ColinW

With 8 days to go now, we have brought the exhibition equipment out of its storage now, and members have been told what duties they will be doing next Saturday. Things are starting to get busy for us now. Colin

With just two weeks to go until the exhibition, we can confirm that all of the exhibitors & traders are coming. As said we will be having part of the club's Beaminster Junction layout at the show. Those who went last year, may remember that we had the bridges and were doing some ballasting. This year we are bring 3 of the boards in the photo (it has progressed since this was taken ) and will probably be looking at making the platforms for the station. We should also have a display of models made by club members on display. We should be upstairs, close to the public refreshments and the members will be happy to discuss the layout or answer any questions regarding the club. Colin

Invicta Model Rail have confirmed that there stand will be at the show. It was good to see Kerry and Vernon behind the stand at Canterbury today, following Vernon's health problems last year. Colin

I am going on Saturday, so will no doubt see Bill and Adrian at some point during the day. Colin

With 37 days to go, here are some travel details. By car :- PLEASE NOTE there will be no road signage for the exhibition itself. When travelling into Tonbridge, follow signs for Tonbridge railway station, and as you get to the station, Sainsbury's and the Angel Centre will be signposted, the Angel Centre is next door to Sainsburys. We will also have banners up to show where the exhibition is. There are several short and long term pay and display car parks within a short distance of the centre. By rail :- Tonbridge station is served by Southern services from Redhill and Edenbridge, and South Eastern services from Ransgate, Dover, Folkestone, Canterbury West, Ashford International, Hastings, Tunbridge Wells, Strood, Maidstone West, and services from London Charing Cross, Waterloo East & London Bridge. At this time there are no booked engineering works for the 17th Feb. On leaving the station through the main entrance, if you look left, you will see Sainsbury's. Walk down the road, until you get to the roundabout, when you will need to turn right and walk towards the Sainsburys garage. Turn left at the mini roundabout and walk straight through onre of the pay and display car parks. Walk right to the end where the Angel Centre is. We will have a banner up on the railings as well. Colin

Have to say Ron, those deck beams look superb, but nothing that we shouldn't have not expected to come from you. Happy New Year Colin

With 8 weeks to go, we are pleased to say that the Colonel Stephens Society will have a stand at the exhibition. Colin

I fully agree with how some layouts can be transported. I am currently in the process of making Avon Junction (a layout I am part owner of) more storage and transport safe!! as well as carrying out some scenic repairs on the layout and two fiddleyard board extensions! This being because the layout was made to fit into a Ford Focus, and has now grown to need a transit to carry it to exhibitions. The fact that Treneglos can attract people to stand and watch the trains go by is probably why it was so popular at exhibitions. Colin

Simon, well done in getting the layout, and hopefully you will get a lot of enjoyment out of it. It was good to just stand and watch the trains go by, on it at exhibitions. Chris, thanks for putting up the photos today, Just goes to show how much care is needed when taking a layout like Treneglos to exhibitions. Colin

Hi Ron, That is some very impressive trackwork you have built, but not surprising considering the buildings that you built earlier. I shall look forward to seeing more of it Colin

I can see sales of grime paint going up, you can't over do the weathering on these, plus the locos will also need the same amount of weathering. Colin

Kernow put a Gate Stock update on Facebook this evening- Thanks for bearing with us! The Gate Stock has been here for a week and so far we have processed about a third of the orders. We will keep working as fast as we can, but please bear in mind we are at Warley this weekend, which takes half our staff away. As of this evening, we have sent every order which was paid for up to 30th September. PLEASE NOTE- it is not the date of the original order, it is the date you paid us that we are using. We initially e-mailed/contacted everyone in strict date order, some people immediately authorised us to take payment, some waited for several weeks, some a period between immediately and several weeks! We will continue to process them as quickly as possible, a process that will be speeded up if we don't have to keep answering phone calls and e-mails asking when a particular order may be sent! You have been very patient waiting for a number of years in some cases, please give us just a couple more weeks! I am not connected to Kernow apart from being a customer who is currently awaiting two sets of Gate Stock that have been paid for, and will allow them time to send them to me. Colin

The layouts at the show today were excellent, I particularly enjoyed watching Chewton Mendip, Haybridge Wharf & Ynysybwl. Should also be mentioned that the demonstrators, The Gravetts, Roy Hickman & Roger Sawyer were encouraging youngsters, by getting them to partake in the demonstrations. Colin

A couple more photos of the scenic work that we have started on. We are planning on doing some more work in 3-4 weeks time Work & family commitments allowing. Colin

As I said in my last post, we have started to carry out the scenic work on the extension boards, the first one being the one with the hidden fiddleyard. We are looking to extend the countryside on this board the road is made form a sheet of wet and dry sandpaper and will be toned down to match the colour of the road on the main board Starting to place trees in place to get an idea of how to hide the isolation switches for the hidden fiddleyard Some work that was carried out this morning, with walling, Hedgerow and grass mat in place, and the road having received a coating, but a bit too light now ! The hedgerow is rubberised horse hair and a variety of green flock being held on by very cheap hairspray. We now have a target of September next year to get this work finished and to go back to playing with the layout, as we will be attending two exhibitions towards the end of 2018 and beginning of 2019. Will put more updates on here when we carry out more work. Colin

We have now started to scenify the extension board over the hidden fiddleyard. I will hope to have some photos to put on here, once they have been downloaded from my camera. Colin

Had a good time at the show yesterday. The standard of the layouts was extremely high and I managed to get everything that I wanted. Well done to Adrian and the Uckfield club, looking forward to next year's show. Colin

Will be heading to the show on Saturday, with some other members of Tonbridge MRC. Always a good show with great layouts being displayed. Colin

Had a good day at the show yesterday, with some excellent layouts on display. Colin

It's good to see you re-start this project Ron, and I shall look forward to seeing the track being built. Colin

I will be there on Saturday helping to break operate Southbridge. Colin

We now have a list of traders, demonstrators, layouts and societies that will be attending the show Traders Ace Products Carriage and Wagon Models Coastal DCC Dart Castings David Wills Double O Scenics DOW Scenics Golden Arrow Productions Harrison-Brown Models Invicta Model Rail Kent Garden Railway KS Laser Designs Layouts4u Matthew Cousins Artist (with Drive Thomas as well) Mike Turner Artist Plus Daughters Railroad Trading Ray Morris Roneo Models Roxey Mouldings Severn Models Simply Southern South Eastern Finecast Squires Model & Craft Tools Supercast Videolines Societies German Railway Society RCTS Spa Valley Railway Tonbridge Model Engineering Society Demonstrators Jack Chalkley The Weathering Service Michael Tucker Steve Sharp - Steve's Model Building Service Layouts Lydford OO9 Newbery Road N Portsea 3mm The club will also have part of its new OO layout 'Beaminster Junction' on display, probably with us doing some modelling on it again, we were doing ballasting on it at this year's show, which caused a lot of interest . Will add more information when I can get it Colin

We have now completed the majority of the minor jobs that needed to be done, including making new end boards for each board, as this will make the boards safer when travelling or being stored, which should mean reducing the possibility of damage to the scenics. We will now be looking to start on the scenics on the 2 extension boards shortly. Colin

Following our successful exhibition this year, Tonbridge MRC will be holding their 37th annual exhibition on Saturday 17th February 2018, in the Angel Centre, Angel Lane, Tonbridge, TN9 1SF. The admission prices are as follows: Adults £6, Children (between 10-16) £1, Children under 10 FREE. Layouts attending Addison Park 3mm Ardmore N Awliscombe 009 Bahnhoff Laufenmuhle HO Bankfield Road O fs Bee Road OO Brighton East EM Brixham Bay N Camlas OO Cato Pass OO Clayton West OO Cucknoe N Dufftown & Craigllachie Brickworks 009 East Dunnet 7mm NG Gamle Carlsberg 7mm NG Gravesdown South OO Hanzauff HBF Z Lynth Haven OO Peak Forest OO Portwenn O-16.5 Shell Haven OO Slindon Vale Railway O-16.5 South Walton N Staindrop O Stodden Hundred Light Railway O Stoney Hill West HO Watchet Town O-16.5 Whitmoor N I will update with further news, when I get it. More information will be available on the club's website, www.tonbridgemrc.com, or by e-mailling TonbridgeMRC@yahoo.co.uk. Colin

We had the board with the double slip that had the short, out at the club last night, to try and find the fault. Having plugged the board into the control panel (as it has been designed to do individually) we found a broken wire, which has now been replaced. We shall be looking to carry out some of the minor jobs we found last week, in the next couple of weeks before starting the scenics on the extension boards. Colin